Thrust-bearing.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT 2B. BENNETT, or'NEw YORK, N. ,Y., .assrenon To ERASTUS s.BENNETT, OF

. a NEW YORK, 1v. Y.

Tanner-BEARING.

Application filed July 9, 1912, Serial No. 708,487.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1,. ROBERT B. BENNETT, citizen of the United States,residing at New York, N. Y., have invented certain new 5 and usefulImprovements in Thrust-Bearings, of which the following isaspecification.

My present invention'relates to improvements in thrust bearings, and hasamong others for its objects to provide a ball or anti-friction bearinginwhichall liability of crushing or breakage with the incident jdisastrous results will be avoided; in which the number of contactpoints will be reduced to a minimum, and all comparatively sharp contactpoints will be removed; in which the ball motion will be slow and thewear distributed over the surface of the ball so as to avoid any dangerof flattening of the same.

-With these and other objects in view, the invention comprises the novelfeatures of construction and arrangement and combination of partshereinafter described and partiicularly defined by the appended claims;

A thrust bearing embodying my invention is illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a vertical section throughmy 80 improved bearing; Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on line w-a ofFig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of a modified form. Fig. 4is a detail view of a modification.

Referring by reference characters to these 86 drawings, the numeral 1designates a box ing or sleeve, and 2' a bottom or end for the same,which is detachably connected thereto conveniently by having a threadedboss 2 screwed into the lower end of the sleeve 40 1. The shaft to besupported is indicated at 3, and the anti-friction bearing is providedfor by the insertion of a single large ball -'l interposed between thebase 2 and the lower end of the shaft 3, the ball preferably bearingagainst upper and lower disks 5 and 5 respectively.

-T he ball is preferably of greater diameter than one-half the diameterof the shaft, but of less than the whole diameter of the shaft,

Boa-ball within these limits being capable of sustaining withoutdetrimental effect any weight which the shaft may transmit. En-

' circling the ballis a loose ring or cage 6 which is of a heightslightly exceeding the radius of the ball, so that the periphery ofSpecification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 25 1916.

Renewed December 15, 1915. Serial No. 67,081.

the ball at the side will contact with the inner face of the cage;

The ball may be prevented from at any time assuming a position axiallyin line with the shaft by a conical projection 8 on the 50 lower disk5*, this projection insuring that the vertical axis of the ball shall beout of line with the axis of the shaft as illustrated in Fig. 4. I

It will be understood that the space occupied by the ball will be filledwith oil or other lubricant.

-With a construction such as above described, it will be seen that theshaft will have a rolling support on a ball which, by 7 reason of itscomparatively large size, avoids any sharp contact, while by reason ofthe size of the ball and its contact approximately close to the axis ofthe shaft, the rotation of the ball on its own axis will 7 be much lessthan the speed of rotation of the shaft, thereby avoiding the high speedor rotation of the balls as found in the ordinary ball bearings, whichis detrimental to the life of the bearing. The cage interposed I betweenthe ball and boxing is free to slip with relation to the interiorsurface of the boxing and also with relation tothe ball, therebyreducing friction at the sides. It will be also apparent that witha'ball constructed and' located as above described the wear will not beconfined to a single annular path around the surface of the ball, butwill be distributed to a considerable extent over the same.

Instead of having the ball travel between two plain disks, as shown inFig. 1, I may form these disks with annular channels, as indicated inFig. 3, in which the disks are indicated at 5 and 5, and the channels atI) and 0, each channel being curved on the arc of a circle, of greaterdiameter than the diameter of the ball. l

Having thus described my invention what I claim is: 1

1. A thrust bearing comprising a support, a cylindrical ball inclosure,a shaft having its'lower end within said inclosure,a single ballinterposed between the support and shaft, and a cylindrical cageencircling the ball of a height exceeding the radius of the ball. 1 v j2. A thrust bearing comprising a support, a cylindrical ball container,shaft having its lower end rotating 1n said container, a

single ball between said support and shaft naled therein, a disk at theend of the shaft,

a second disk spaced from said first disk, a suitable support, and asingle ball interposed between said disks, said disks having 7 plainsurfaces for the ball to travel on and one of them having a centralprojection for maintaining theball out of alinement with 15 the shaft,the said ball having a one point bearing on each of the said disksat thepoint of traveling contact with the main portions of said disksrespectively.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature 20 in presence of twowitnesses.

i ROBERT B. BEITNETT. [1 5.]

Witnesses l E. S. BENNETT, MARGARET V. LEHR.

